


Arranged

by emilyhbr4



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, F/M, M/M, Once on this Island type vibe, One-Sided Attraction, Pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-07-11 23:39:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15982934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emilyhbr4/pseuds/emilyhbr4
Summary: Elizabeth Schuyler has been promised to Thomas Jefferson since she was a child. Falling in love with Alexander Hamilton from the Shacks was never part of the plan.When Mr. Schuyler rejects their relationship, they make plans to run away to America together.Thomas Jefferson has never really thought about love. On his part of the island, love is not part of life. But, then he sees a man with light colored hair across the ballroom and he starts to wonder if maybe he had just never experienced the kind of love he wanted.AKA the Arranged Marriage AU with lots of ups and downs that you won't see coming





	1. Run Away With Me

“All this to say,” Eliza sighed. “I love him. I love him more than anyone I have ever met before. I ask that you search your heart find the kindness to allow me to be with him. Please.” Eliza did all she could to keep her voice from shaking as she spoke. She had practiced her speech over and over the night before, making the language more formal so that her father would understand the seriousness of her proposal.

She had given Alexander strict instructions to not say a word in the hanging silence. He had to physically bite his tongue to not make his case on top of Eliza’s. Although she had been persuasive, he would still feel more at ease if he had been able to say his piece.

What Mr. Schuyler said next would change the course of their lives. For months, Eliza and Alex had meticulously planned and discussed how they would approach him, especially since they had been dating behind his back.

Eliza came from a very wealthy family in a world where the wealthy did not become anything more than acquaintances with those below them. At nineteen, Alex had not yet been able to rise above his position that life had handed to him, but had been studying and working to do so. Still, they knew that it would be difficult for Mr. Schuyler to see anything but a poor boy from the shacks. 

“Dad, please,” Eliza said, pleading softly. “Say something.”

Mr. Schuyler’s face was hard, he had his arms folded but was looking to the floor as if thinking intently. Then, after a moment, he looked up and sighed. “No, Eliza. No. I’m sorry, but you have been promised to Thomas since you were a child. Breaking that arrangement would be detrimental to our business on this island.”

Alex took a step forward and took Eliza’s hand, as she struggled to find the words after his answer. In her mind, she had always been prepared for him to say no, but what she wasn’t prepared for was the kind way he spoke, as if it truly hurt him to take this possibility of love away from his daughter.

“Sir,” Alex said, finally speaking up. “I’m afraid that you’re underestimating my position. I’ve been working, and I have been told that my potential is-”

“Alexander I can promise my answer has nothing to do with you. It’s not that you are not a good man. I have seen the way that you treat my daughter. The Jeffersons’ hold too high a power to change our relationship with them.” He stepped forward and squeezed Eliza’s arm, but she looked to the side so that he couldn’t see the tears forming in her eyes. “Thomas is a good man. This, although unfortunate, is not the end for you. You have so much life ahead of you.”

With that, he left the room, leaving Eliza to be alone with Alex before their inevitable parting. 

For a moment, he just held her in his arms as she gripped him tightly, stroking her hair and trying to think of the right words to say. “He’s right,” he whispered softly. “This is not the end for you. For us. I’ve always wanted to leave this island, and now is our chance. Come with me, Eliza, and we can be together.”

Eliza picked up her head off his shoulder and looked at him quizzically. “Where would we go?” Her voice still quivered, tears continuing to brim her eyes.

“America,” he answered immediately. “We can build a life together, just as we always dreamed we would.” When she hesitated, he continued, “I don’t want to lose you like this.”

“You aren’t going to lose me, Alexander,” she replied quietly. He searched her face as a million thoughts swirled around in her mind. Then, firmly planting her ground, she said, “We will go. Give me a day to say my goodbyes, and then we will go without a word to my father.” 

Alex placed a kiss on her head. “Whatever you need, my love. We’ll prove them wrong. Together you and I will be a force to be reckoned with.”

Once again she wrapped her arms around him, grasping him tightly out of fear of not being able to do so ever again. “Come back on Sunday at sunrise. I’ll have bought our tickets by then and we can get on the earliest flight.”

Alex nodded a little, smiling at her determination. “What is the island going to do without its princess?”

She rolled her eyes a little. “I’m hardly a princess.”

“You’re right. They choose to put you on magazine covers because you’re just a simple commoner,” he teased, grinning.

“The island has nothing to discuss except for petty things such as how I wear my hair. My departure will be gossip for them to survive on for weeks, maybe even months.” Even though the seriousness of the situation still weighed on her, Eliza found a smile creeping onto her face.

“Then we’re doing them all a favor, hm?” He hummed, kissing her softly.

“You should get back,” she smiled. “It’s getting dark and I don’t want you walking home unprotected.”

“John is waiting for me outside,” he assured her. Then, he leaned down and kissed her again, more desperate than before. Although their plan felt clear and cut, Alex knew that luck wasn’t always on his side. 

“I love you,” she whispered after they had finished.

“I love you too. I’ll see you at sunrise on Sunday.” Then, he gave her a reassuring smile and left through the door down a long corridor meant for servers. Angelica, seeing him sneak through the door, followed him and called out his name.

“Alexander!” When he quickly spun around, she continued, “Well?”

Unsure of what to reveal to her, he said quietly, “Your father does not approve of our relationship.”

Quickly, she approached him, saying, “And you’re just going to let him get away with that? You’re just going to leave? That would kill my sister.” There was fire in her eyes that he did not want to challenge, so Alex began to back away.

“Please, Angelica, don’t make this harder than it already is.”

“You’re in too deep, Hamilton,” Angelica spit. “You can’t just leave her this way. You can’t just leave us all this way. Peggy has grown so accustomed to having you around and I- well, I just can’t picture a life anymore without you in it.” 

Knowing that it was not his place to tell her any of what he and Eliza decided, Alexander stepped forward and took her hands. “I just need some time to think. You have not lost me yet.” 

Softening at his touch, she spoke quietly, “I will speak to my father and try to get him to change his mind.” 

Hesitantly, Alex leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you,” he said sincerely. “I will see you soon.” Angelica stole one last glance at him before returning into the house to go find her sister.

John Laurens was standing down at the end of the driveway, past the gates surrounding the house, and around the corner waiting for Alexander. The later it became, the more he paced back and forth and contemplated whether or not to just leave him there.

Finally, when he arrived, John sighed out of relief, “There you are! I was starting to wonder if they had performed the wedding ceremony right there and then!”

Grinning, Alex slung his arm around John’s shoulder. “I’m sorry I took so long, we had a lot to discuss.”

“Mr. Schuyler said yes, then?” 

Alex shook his head. “Hardly. Quite the opposite in fact. Eliza has been promised to another man. She is to marry Thomas Jefferson of the Jefferson produce industry.”

John snorted. “I know who he is, they own half the land on this island. Why are you so happy then? Shouldn’t I be holding you as you sob in my arms?” Alexander smirked. “Ah, you have a plan, don’t you?”

“We’re going to leave for America at sunrise on Sunday,” he smiled. “We’ll start a new life together and finally escape this poor excuse for an island.” Even as he walked, there was a skip in his step thinking of what the future held for him.

John, however, stopped right in his tracks. “You’re leaving? For good?”

“It’s the only way Eliza and I can be together,” he replied simply. “Are you not happy for me?”

John frowned, still not walking ahead. “Is she really worth leaving everything you’ve ever known? Your family? Your friends? Your livelihood?”

“I don’t know what ‘livelihood’ you speak of,” Alex chucked, “and my family is few and far between. Of course I will miss you, but I can’t bear to stay on this island see her marry another man, John.”

John could see the almost desperate look in his eye as he spoke and, even though it broke his heart, he nodded and began to walk again very slowly. “We’ll have to make our last day together one for the books then I suppose.”

“Absolutely,” Alex replied quickly. 

“Mary and Martha are going to miss you terribly,” John added, thinking of his two little sisters who looked up to Alexander as an older brother as well. 

“No one can know where I’m going,” Alex said, although he felt slightly guilty as he said it. “They can’t know I’m leaving until right before daybreak. I don’t want word getting back to Mr. Schuyler.”

“As if my sisters have a way to contact the Schuylers,” John replied, slightly on edge. 

“It’s better this way. A short goodbye will dull the pain for all of us.”

For the rest of the walk, John did not say a word. The only thing he knew was that Alexander Hamilton had no idea of the wreckage he would be leaving behind.


	2. Out By the Water

Peggy practically threw her book across the room when Eliza came back from the meeting with their father. “So? What did he say? Where’s Alexander?” She asked at rapid fire.

Carefully, Eliza sat the foot of Peggy’s bed and said, “Can we wait until Angelica gets back? I would rather explain at to you both at once.” In truth, she was just trying figure out the right words to say.

“That sounds bad, was it bad?” She asked, concerned. 

“Let’s just wait for...” Angelica arrived all too soon for Eliza’s liking. She still hadn’t completely decided what to say and wasn’t by any means ready for all the questions they were going to ask.

“Is he really gone, Eliza?” Angelica asked after she had softly closed the door. Eliza shifted uncomfortably on the bed, still searching for something to say. “Eliza, I watched him leave. Is he really gone?” Her voice became a bit firmer, pushing for an answer.

“Yes,” Eliza whispered. “Father doesn’t approve of our marriage. He wishes for me to be with Thomas Jefferson instead, just as he planned.”

“Oh, ‘Liza,” Peggy sighed, scooching over on the bed to wrap her arms around her. “I’m so sorry. I know how much you loved him.”

Angelica searched Eliza’s face for the pure devastation she should have been feeling, but found nothing of the sort. Instead, all she could see was worry and concern. “Is there something you’re not telling us?” Angelica’s own heart was aching, and she didn’t know how her sister didn’t feel the same.

After meeting Angelica’s eyes, Eliza hesitantly admitted, “Alexander and I are going to run away together.”

She did all she could not to laugh. “Where will you go? We live on an island.” 

“America,” she replied, swallowing out of nervousness. “We leave on Sunday at sunrise.”

There was a moment of silence where no one knew quite what to say. Peggy froze, still holding onto Eliza tightly. Angelica crossed her arms, turning her body away from the two of the them, biting her lip and not showing her face.

“We’re going to make a new life together. It’s the only way,” she tried, hoping that on some level they could understand. “I can’t marry Thomas Jefferson.”

Slowly, Peggy let go of Eliza and faced her, her eyes watering. “So you’re just going to leave us? Both of you, at the same time? ‘Liza please don’t do this.”

Peggy was only fourteen and when their mother had passed a few years ago, she had taken it quite hard. Ever since, she had clung to Eliza and Angelica as if they would die too if she let go. But, Eliza knew that if she went away, Peggy would move on and one day Eliza would feel safe enough to let her come visit. This wouldn’t be goodbye forever.

Eliza bit her lip, “Pegs, I...”

“No, Peggy, don’t say that,” Angelica finally said, turning to them. “Eliza is doing something for herself for once in her life and I think she deserves that luxury. You deserve to be happy, Eliza. I’m just sorry that it can’t be here with us on the island.”

With a half smile, Eliza turned to Peggy, “I’ll write every week. That I can promise you. You just can’t tell Father where I’ve gone.”

“Will you still come to the ball tonight?” Peggy sniffed, wiping her eyes. “Our last party together. We’ll make it fun.”

Eliza knew that the ball meant dancing with Thomas and pretending as if she was still engaged, and the thought of going almost made her sick to her stomach. But, one look into Peggy’s eyes and she melted. “Of course I’ll go to the ball with you. I wouldn’t miss it.” Eliza leaned over, kissed her forehead, and wrapped her arms around her.

Angelica, not trying to show either of her sisters how she felt, came over and held them both tightly. “It’s going to be okay.”

~

“Alex is here!” Mary squealed as he and John walked into the door. 

“He’s always here,” James remarked. “It’s nothing to get excited about.”

Alex just laughed as Mary ran to him and he scooped her up. “It’s good to see you too, kiddo. Where’s Martha?”

“Out by the water,” she replied simply.

James rolled his eyes. “She’s been out there all night.” He held up a piece of paper in his hand. “John, electricity bill came in again today. They’re shutting us off tomorrow if we don’t pay.” 

John snatched the paper from his hand and began reading furiously. “Shit,” he muttered.

“Bad word!” Mary pointed out quickly. Alex did all he could to stifle a chuckle. 

John sighed, “I know, Mary. I’m sorry.” Then, he started going through files, looking at cash and checks and counting the numbers. “Where’s Martha’s part? She should have gotten paid today.”

James shrugged. “No idea. She hasn’t said a word since she’s come home.”

Alex glanced out the window to see Martha in her spot by the water, sitting in front of a fallen log so that only the top of her head could be seen. The sun had almost set. It was brimming the edge of the water, creating a beautiful scene. For a moment, he tried to capture the image to his memory. He knew he would never see sunsets like that in America. Replication of something so beautiful seemed nearly impossible. 

John smacked the back of James’s head. “And you haven’t tried to talk to her? Have some compassion. You’re the second oldest. It’s your job.”

James whipped his head around and said in anger, “She doesn’t talk to me, she talks to you! And if she doesn’t talk to you, she talks to Alex! I worked all day, I’m not dealing with her bitching.”

“You’re family,” John snipped. “We deal with each other’s bitching.” With that, he slammed the back door behind him and went out to go talk to Martha.

“I’m going to go with John, okay?” Alex said to Mary, setting her down and kissing her head. “We’ll be right back.”

Quickly, Alex jogged after John to catch up with his furious pace. “Alright, maybe take a breath before you go talk to your sister who doesn’t respond to yelling well.”

“She needs to bring in her cut,” he replied harshly. The more he spoke, the louder he got. “I can’t deal with James’s shit right now. And, to top off the perfect day, you’re fucking leaving tomorrow!”

“John, shh-” Alex warned, but it was too late. Martha was already standing, having heard her brother’s words.

“You’re leaving tomorrow? Where are you going?” 

Alex shot John a look and then wordlessly went next to Martha and sat down. She quickly did the same, and John followed, sitting on the other side of her. “It’s a long story, Marth. Let’s talk about you first. James says you’ve been sitting out here all night.”

Martha glanced at John worriedly for a moment and then sighed. “I don’t know how to tell you this. I fought- I fought so hard but,” she choked on her words slightly, “I just couldn’t do it.”  
John furrowed his brows. “Martha, what are you talking about?”

“I was fired. I was fired and it was all my fault,” she swallowed, fighting back tears and not looking at John for fear of the disappointment that surely crossed his face. In truth, he didn’t really know how to feel. Martha’s income was important to their family but she was only 15. That was an enormous pressure to put on her.

Knowing that John need to process, Alex asked softly, “Why was it your fault?”

“Because of Peter Jefferson,” she whimpered, covering her face with her hands. “I met him when I was working in the Jefferson fields and his father found out about us.”

Hearing the name Peter Jefferson, John was immediately snapped out of his thoughts. “You’re dating Peter fucking Jefferson? Why didn’t you tell me?” 

“Because I knew you’d react like this!” Martha shot back. “The Jeffersons used their first large round of firings to get rid of me. I’m one of their best workers. They wouldn’t have had another reason.”

“That was reckless and stupid of you,” John replied, taking a deep breath. “Our power will be shut off tomorrow because we have no way to pay for the bill.”

“I’m sorry, John. I just can’t help how I feel about him,” Martha said quietly. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“I know how that feels,” Alex sighed, placing an arm around her. She placed her head in the crook of his neck, enjoying the bit of comfort she could receive from Alex when her brother was too worried and in his own thoughts to do so.

John ran his fingers through his hair nervously. “The Jeffersons were making cuts anyway?” 

“I was one of 30 this week,” Martha nodded. “They’re waiting for the Schuyler deal to go through and their trying to save money. I doubt I’ll be rehired, but I’m going to do everything I can, John. I promise.”

John shot Alex a look. “The Schuyler deal?”

“Yeah, when Eliza Schuyler and Thomas Jefferson get married,” Martha said, looking confused. “I guess they plan to merge parts of the companies to prep for when Thomas eventually takes over the company and they merge completely.”

Alex’s lips parted slightly, taken aback by that news. He had no idea of the intricate plans that had already been laid out for Eliza’s future. “They’ll be the most powerful people on the island,” he said softly, mostly to himself.

“If it means jobs for everyone on the island and decent pay, then maybe it ought to happen,” John replied, slightly on edge. Alex did not respond. He’s was too wrapped up in his own thought process to even consider what John was saying.

Seeing the tension between the two of them, Martha became concerned. “What’s going on? What haven’t you told me? Does this have something to do with you leaving?”

Slightly snapped out of his trance, Alex said as quietly as he could, “I am in love with a girl and we had planned to run away together to America.”

Realizing, Martha gasped slightly, “And that girl is Elizabeth Schuyler?” All Alex could do was nod. “Oh, Alex, please don’t go.”

“I have to talk to Eliza,” Alex replied, shaking his head. 

“You have to think about what you’re doing, Alexander,” John said sternly. Martha clung to Alex tighter, silently reassuring him that she understood what he was going through. 

Feeling sick, dizzy, and unwell, Alex stood up, shaking Martha off with a force that she didn’t expect. “I... I have to go. I’ll come by in the morning when I have a plan.” With that, he was gone, presumably with nowhere to really go.

Martha bit her lip, waiting for John to really yell at her now that Alex was gone. To her surprise, he took her hand and kissed it. “Even if he leaves, I’ll still be here for you. I promise.”

For the first time in awhile, Martha saw the real John. The John that wasn’t bogged down with worry and stress over finances and keeping everyone fed. This John was scared and he cared for her, deeply.

“I promise I’ll do everything I can to get my job back.”

“We’ll figure it out,” he said quietly, kissing her head. “Everything is going to be fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be the beginning of the ball! Thanks for reading, I love your comments :)


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